1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to character printing and, more specifically, to apparatus for printing magnetic ink or other characters on a printout surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While the subject invention is in part styled in terms of the printing of magnetic ink characters in magnetic ink character recognition systems (MICR), it is not intended to be so limited. Indeed, many other fields of utility will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the subject extensive disclosure.
A typical type of printing apparatus of the kind herein under consideration comprises a plurality of mutually parallel and individually adjustable segments which bear the character types to be printed out. In an effort to facilitate the equipment and its operation, it has been proposed to actuate the adjusted character segments with a common print hammer structure. In practice, this has led to alignment problems in the print-out. Also, existing equipment of that type has been incapable of printing out characters at close mutual spacings. In consequence, it is frequently necessary in the case of bank checks or other papers where space is at a premium, to carry out a character printout in two subsequent printing processes, wherein the first printing process will print, say, every odd-numbered character, while the second printing process will thereafter print every even-numbered character in interdigitated relationship to the odd-numbered characters. This, of course, renders the printing process burdensome, expensive and subject to error.
Existing problems in this area have been greatly aggravated by the advent of electronic character reading and data processing equipment wherein alignment and printing errors can easily have devastating consequences in terms of customer aggravation, loss of computer time, loss of funds through erroneous automated payments of larger amounts than as due, and similar difficulties.
In this context, it is easily seen that difficulties of this type can also impede the operation of calculating equipment, accounting systems, date stamping apparatus and other devices which rely on an accurate printout of characters.
In an effort to reduce at least the alignment problem, it has been proposed to provide a notch behind each character type in each printing segment and to provide a corresponding bar which would enter the notches corresponding to the aligned character types and would thus impede character misalignment during the printing process. In prior-art equipment, this proposal has necessitated the provision of extra print hammer equipment in addition to the locking bar. Moreover, this existing proposal necessitated movement of the printout medium toward and onto the character types, thereby imposing limitations on the system in terms of utility, ease of operation and economy.